Tuesday, September 23, 2014

{Book Blitz w/ #GIVEAWAY} Holly hearts Hollywood by Kenley Conrad

Seventeen-year-old Holly Hart wants to be a star. She moves to Los Angeles from the small town of Cedar Junction, only to hear she’s too fat and ugly to be a famous singer.

But when Shell Shocked Records looks past Holly’s plus-size and less-than-graceful-personality to offer her a recording contract, Holly cannot believe her good fortune. On closer inspection, however, the record execs want Holly to do all the singing, and a thinner and more beautiful girl, Lacey, would lip-sync and get all the credit. Holly goes for it because after all, she wanted to sing.

Contractually bound to secrecy, Holly is more than happy to sit backstage while Lacey shimmies in the limelight and basks in the fame. Before she knows it, Holly is friends with Serena, the pop-star daughter of a music-mogul, flirting with an intern, and developing a strange half-friendship with Lacey.

When Grayson Frost, the biggest country star in America, and coincidentally, a former school bully begins dating Lacey, Holly hopes that he won’t recognize or torment her.

Through a series of embarrassing and weird events, Holly gets to know Grayson and learns that he is much nicer and more mature than he was four years ago. Holly is horrified when she starts falling for him. When Grayson admits he fell for Lacey's voice, what is a girl to do when she can’t legally tell the truth at the moment when the truth matters the most?

ExcerptJanuary 31st, 8:15am—HomeroomI’m one of the unluckiest people I know. I’m the girl who gets a pimple on picture day or starts her period at a pool party with cute boys. Nothing goes my way, and I’ve always been okay with that. So when I posted videos of me singing Carrie Underwood cover songs on YouTube, I didn’t think my luck would suddenly change.I’m just so embarrassed! They emailed me for two weeks, but I kept ignoring them. The emails sounded so suspicious—was I really supposed to believe I was being offered a recording contract through email? I wasn’t going to fall for another email con artist. My sister still makes fun of me for believing that the Prince of Aruba was having financial problems. Finally, they asked to talk to my mom and proved they were actually the head honchos of Shell Shocked Studios through a video chat session. Before I knew it, Mom bought two plane tickets to Los Angeles. I’ve never left Iowa before, and now she’s talking about moving to LA. I could just die. I really could. The worst part is the fact that I can’t really tell anyone about this. I mean, I could, but I know the kids at school will make fun of me, instead of congratulating me. None of them would believe that Holly Hart, that girl who always gets in trouble for writing in her journal during class, would get a record deal. I’m not even in choir. Whoops, Mrs. Holland is looking my way.

About the Author

I'm the author of the upcoming YA series Holly Hearts Hollywood, coming September 2014 by Swoon Romance. I'm a twenty-something cat lady who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. When I'm not working my office day job or writing books, you can find me either singing and dancing or binge-watching TV shows on Netflix.